Melissa Zehner on Fractional Content Leadership and Fighting BS Content in B2B Marketing

Last Updated on June 14, 2024

Do you ever feel like you’re not good enough for your job? You’re not alone.

In this episode, we are joined by Melissa Zehner, Founder of  The Content Market. She is a content marketing leader with more than 13 years of experience. She specializes in building, scaling, and monetizing organic content marketing programs for B2B startups. Her approach has proven successful and led to results like generating $254+ million in annual organic revenue and increasing website clicks 4x in less than 6 months. 

This episode, emphasizes the importance of quality and integrity in content marketing and discusses the prevalence of low-quality content and the need for thoughtful, accurate, well-researched, and valuable content. We also touch on the potential of AI and chatbots in content creation, as well as the challenges of balancing creativity with data and analytics.

Overall, this podcast provides valuable insights into the world of content marketing and the personal struggles that come with it. It encourages listeners to prioritize quality and integrity in their work and to find support and community to overcome imposter syndrome.

Topics

• High Integrity Content 
• Eliminating BS in B2B Content 
• Creating Quality Content on Substack 
• Chatgpt and the Future of Writing 
• Commitment to Quality 
• Fractional Content Leadership
• Content Marketing Strategy 
• Future of Content Marketing
• Unleashing Subject Matter Expertise 
• Philosophy and Critical Thinking 

Show Links

• Visit The Content Market
• Connect with Melissa Zehner on LinkedIn and Twitter
• Connect with Alex Birkett on LinkedIn and Twitter
• Connect with Omniscient Digital on LinkedIn or Twitter

Listen to the podcast:

Key Takeaways:

[00:05:24] High-Integrity Content 

discuss the meaning of high-integrity content and how it can impact people’s lives. They also talk about the prevalence of low-quality content on the internet

[00:10:39] Eliminating BS in B2B Content 

discuss the problem of BS in content marketing, especially in the B2B space, and how it affects the quality of content

[00:20:02] Creating Quality Content on Substack 

discuss the rise of Substack and how it encourages quality content creation, as opposed to the oversaturated digital course market

[00:25:57] Chatgpt and the Future of Writing 

discuss the limitations of Chatgpt in terms of writing quality and the importance of substance and expertise in content creation

[00:29:49] Commitment to Quality 

discuss the importance of commitment to quality and learning to advance in digital marketing.

[00:33:52] Fractional Content Leadership 

explain what fractional content leaders do and how they act as part-time content marketing leaders for startups, guiding operations, mentoring teams, and helping grow the program until they can bring in a full-time hire

[00:39:30] Content Marketing Strategy 

emphasize the importance of having a content marketing strategy and investing in a single channel to see powerful results

[00:45:25] Future of Content Marketing 

shares her optimistic take on the future of content marketing, highlighting the return to quality and craft and the emergence of new platforms and creators

[00:47:41] Unleashing Subject Matter Expertise 

discuss the potential of generative AI to lower the barrier to entry for people with dormant knowledge and unleash subject matter expertise

[00:57:09] Philosophy and Critical Thinking 

the importance of philosophy in teaching critical thinking and self-assessment, and how it helps determine what’s essential and what to think about